WHEN Coleen was pregnant with baby Kai she couldn’t wait to get a closer look at the first little Rooney before he made his debut.

Actress Jennifer Ellison, too, was keen to make the most of precious moments with her unborn baby.

So, like hundreds of other excited mums-to-be, they turned to Liverpool business partners and pals Joanne Marsh and Diane Carthy.

Joanne and Diane launched Before The Stork baby scanning studio four years ago when they realised many women were left wanting more after their NHS scans.

“I came up with the idea when I was pregnant with my first baby,” explains Joanne, from Aigburth. “I’d been to the Women’s and had a couple of scans but just didn't feel I got what I was expecting.

“You look forward to them so much and build yourself up but then it’s just a bit disappointing in terms of the experience. I think, especially if you’re a first-time mum, you really want to enjoy seeing the baby but in hospital they check that everything is medically OK and then it’s over in two minutes and it’s goodbye.”

The 35-year-old chose to pay for a private scan at a clinic in Birmingham which was then the nearest offering the service.

“It was only 2D then but it was lovely and I enjoyed it so much,” she recalls. “Sitting at home afterwards I thought there must be lots of other women like me who felt the same.”

At the time Joanne and her friend Diane were both working as food service managers at BHS but they were looking for a business opportunity which would fit in with their family commitments.

They began researching equipment on the market and after months of planning they recruited a sonographer to carry out the scans and opened their first studio in Litherland in December 2005.

The pair created a choice of packages including the option of 2D, 3D or 4D scans, a DVD with music, and a CDrom of images taken throughout each session.

“It is very personal what people want out of the experience,” explains Joanne. “Some people like the DVD so they can show it to friends and family and watch it over again at home, others just like photographs. And sometimes it’s just that they would like more than one person with them at the scan, maybe grandparents, and that isn’t allowed in the hospital.”

Lots of women come back during their pregnancy for more than one scan, she adds. “You only get such a short time to record a baby’s development that people do often want to look at the different stages.”

With their celebrity clientele and a growing word-of-mouth business, they have started to do scans in Manchester and Preston too and eventually hope to expand and open other permanent studios.

Having just collected Train 2000’s Innovation and Technology Award, she says they are thoroughly enjoying their partnership.

“It’s great working with a friend because Diane has three children and we can be flexible around our kids,” she smiles. “And all the sonographers are mums as well which means they can work hours around their families so it’s nice for everyone.”